Our Leadership

Joe DeVito

CEO

Joe brings over 25 years of experience in the US power industry which includes building new teams in new markets, to perform in project development, business development, deal origination, regulatory and political affairs, media and public relations, energy marketing, and power system engineering and operations. Prior to forming SolarStone, Joe was Vice President of Development for RES Americas. As Vice President, Joe was responsible for leading the RES teams in the development, acquisition, divesture and marketing of RES Americas’ projects across a twenty four state footprint. Over his career, Joe established the RES North Central Development team, which developed over 2,000 MWs of wind, solar and battery storage projects. Joe lead the team in project development, land acquisition, environmental, land use zoning, MISO interconnection, transmission right-of-way siting and permitting including all local, state, and federal permitting processes. Joe lead RES’ efforts in the contract negotiations in the asset divestiture with Xcel and Next Era, of which just under 900MWs ($2Bn) is or will soon be operational. Prior to RES Americas, Joe worked for FMPA, FPLE, NRG, Wisvest and the United Illuminating Company.

Joe holds a BSEE in electrical engineering, specializing in power systems from Worcester Polytechnic (WPI): including Advanced Power System Engineering from PTI and management training from Cornell University and UK Naval Academy.

Kaya Tarhan

Chief Development Officer

Mr. Tarhan brings 20 years of experience developing energy projects in the U.S. and Internationally. Most recently Mr. Tarhan founded Bridge-Rock Inc, developing solar projects in the North East U.S. and Turkey with an international solar developer in commercial industrial distributed solar. Previously, Mr. Tarhan served as Development Director of the Turkish operations of Renewable Energy Systems Ltd. (RES), a leading global renewable energy company and a subsidiary of Sir Robert McAlpine. As Development Director of RES, Mr. Tarhan led the company’s establishing a new business unit in Istanbul Turkey, building a successful team of developers, construction managers and electrical team. Mr. Tarhan acquired 750MW wind energy assets, receiving 170MW’s of licenses, which were monetized through an asset sale, representing a significant internal rate of return.
Prior to RES Ltd, Mr. Tarhan worked with Mr. Devito as Manager of Development: Lead Team Member in the development of RES’ North Central’s wind energy developments, including projects in Southern MN 400.95MW and 259.9MW, West Central ND 400MW, Eastern ND 200MW, including initial development in Illinois and Michigan. Experience includes permitting and approval, development, title commitments and curative work on land for several hundred MW’s of wind projects.
Mr. Tarhan earned his B.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota, where he earned international credits while in Izmir, Turkey at the University of Maryland. Mr. Tarhan holds an advance degree from the University of Phoenix, Graduate School of Business, Phoenix, Arizona, with a Master of Business Administration in Energy Management, Magna Cum Laude.